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2018 World Snooker Championship
John Higgins (146) | defending_champion = Mark Selby | winner = Mark Williams | runner_up = John Higgins | score = 18–16 | previous = 2017 | next = }} The 2018 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2018 Betfred World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament, taking place from 21 April to 7 May 2018 at in Sheffield, England. It was the twentieth and final ranking event of the 2017/2018 season, and the tournament was broadcast in Europe by the BBC and Eurosport. Mark Selby was the two-time defending champion, having beaten John Higgins in the 2017 final. However, the defending champion lost in the first round 10–4 to Joe Perry. The tournament marked the first time since 1978 that the title was won by a player aged 40+. Mark Williams won his third world title and 21st ranking title by beating John Higgins 18–16 in the final. The win came 15 years after Williams' second world title – the longest span between two wins in the history of the tournament. Tournament summary Seeding and qualifying rounds The top 16 seeds automatically qualified for the last 32. Defending champion Mark Selby was seeded 1, while other seedings were allocated based on the latest world rankings (revision 10). All the other players (from 17th place in ranking) started in the first round of qualifying and were required to win three best-of-19 matches in order to reach the Crucible. The qualifying rounds took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from 11 to 18 April 2018. The 16 qualifiers were drawn at random against the 16 seeds. The draw was due to take place at 10:00 BST on 19 April, but was delayed until 12:00 BST because of technical issues. Three former world champions participated in the qualifying rounds: Ken Doherty (1997), Peter Ebdon (2002) and Graeme Dott (2006). Of these, only Graeme Dott qualified for the main tournament at the Crucible. Also three former world championship finalists participated in the qualifying rounds: Jimmy White (six times: 1984 and 1990–1994), Nigel Bond (once: 1995) and Matthew Stevens (twice: 2000 and 2005). From these, Matthew Stevens qualified for the main tournament at the Crucible. The youngest participant in qualifying was Jackson Page at 16 years, while 55-year-old Jimmy White was the oldest participant. Liang Wenbo achieved his third professional maximum break and his second of the 2017/2018 season in the tenth frame of his first round qualifying match against Rod Lawler. It was the second consecutive year, that a 147 was made in World Championship qualifying, and the fourth time overall. Liang came very close to becoming the first player making two maximums in the same match, as he missed the final black after a break of 140 in the last frame. Ranked at world number 19, Liang also became the highest ranked player not to feature in the tournament, as both Ryan Day (world number 17), and Stephen Maguire (world number 18) qualified. Only seven of the 64 unseeded participants (players ranked outside the world's top 80) in qualifying made it through the first qualifying round. Only one of them, Adam Duffy, made it to the third qualifying round. He did, however, not qualify for the main stage at the Crucible. Four players qualified for the Crucible for the first time: Liam Highfield, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Lyu Haotian and Chris Wakelin. China's Lyu became the lowest ranked player to reach this World Championship's main stage. First round The draw for the first round of the tournament was made on 19 April 2018, two days before the start of the competition. Eight former (including the current) world champions started in the main tournament at the Crucible: Ronnie O'Sullivan (five times), John Higgins (four times), Mark Selby (three times – including current), Mark Williams (two times), Shaun Murphy, Graeme Dott, Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham (one time each). Also five former world championship finalists started in the main tournament at the Crucible: Matthew Stevens (twice: 2000 and 2005), Ali Carter (twice: 2008 and 2012), Judd Trump (once: 2011), Barry Hawkins (once: 2013) and Ding Junhui (once: 2016). The youngest player to partipate at the tournament main stage was Lyu Haotian at 20 years, while 43-year-old Joe Perry was the oldest. Both of them came through qualifying. Ronnie O'Sullivan made his 26th consecutive appearance in the final stages of the World Championship since making his debut in 1993, one short of Stephen Hendry's record of 27 consecutive appearances and four short of Steve Davis's record of 30 career appearances. Despite missing out on much of the 2017/2018 season due to eye surgery, Marco Fu was participating in the 2018 World Championship. The first round of the tournament was played over six days, between 21 and 26 April, with matches played on two tables in the Crucible Theatre. The defending champion, Mark Selby, played in the opening match of the first round. His opponent, Joe Perry, won the first four frames before pulling away to 7–2 ahead after the first session of play. Selby was unable to catch Perry, as he was defeated 10–4, ending his 10-match undefeated streak in the world championships and also ending his 719 day reign as world champion. Despite trailing 4–0 and 6–3 after the opening session of their match, Ronnie O'Sullivan won seven of the last eight frames to defeat Stephen Maguire 10–7. He has also won his 1000th frame at the Crucible, at the 16th frame of the encounter. It was O’Sullivan’s 15th consecutive first round victory at the World Championship. Masters finalist Kyren Wilson defeated Matthew Stevens 10–3 in the opening round. In the 12th frame of the match, Stevens declared a foul on himself, after nudging the pink ball with his hand, allowing Wilson to win the frame. World number 11, Marco Fu was defeated by debutant Lyu Haotian in his first round match, with Fu having recently had eye surgery to recover from retinal degeneration and myodesopsia in his left eye. Lyu was 6–3 up after the initial session of their match, and won the match 10–5. Ali Carter also defeated Graeme Dott 10–8 in his first round match, despite being three frames behind at 6–3 overnight. 2018 Masters champion Mark Allen defeated debutant Liam Highfield 10–5 in his first round match. The pair did not score a century, however there were two 99-breaks by Highfield. The eighth seeded Shaun Murphy played qualifier and world number 51 Jamie Jones in the first round. The game was tight, with the scores being level at various stages until Jones defeated Murphy 10–9. 2013 World Snooker Championship runner-up Barry Hawkins defeated Stuart Carrington 10–7, after winning a 55-minute 14th frame. For the second successive year, Ding Junhui faced a fellow Chinese player in the first round of the World Championship. Having defeated Zhou Yuelong in 2017, he faced Xiao Guodong in 2018. Ding came out as a comfortable 10–3 winner, despite losing the opening two frames of the match. Two more qualifiers won their first round matches. Ricky Walden defeated Luca Brecel 10–6. Walden was originally five frames ahead at 8–3; Brecel won the next three frames, to leave the game at 8–6, before Walden won the final two frames of the game. Jack Lisowski defeated 2015 World Snooker Champion Stuart Bingham 10–7, thereby securing his first world championship match win. Two-time champion Mark Williams defeated Jimmy Robertson in his first round match 10–5. Williams lead 7–2 after the initial session, and in the 13th frame, hit a tournament highest break at that point of 140, to go 9–4 ahead, before winning the deciding frame in the 15th frame. Fifth seed John Higgins defeated Thai debutant Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10–7, with both players had an attempts for maximum breaks. Higgins missed 14th red ball on 104 in the eighth frame of the first session. In the final session, Un-Nooh scored 14 reds and blacks, before missing the final 15th red on 112 in the 12th frame on course for his second maximum. 2010 champion Neil Robertson was also defeated, losing to Robert Milkins 10–5. Anthony McGill defeated Ryan Day, despite being 8–5 behind; won the final five frames of the match to win 10–8. McGill said that he "can't sic believe I won," and the BBC referring to as an "unbelievable comeback. The final match of the first round saw the second final frame decider, with Chris Wakelin winning four frames in a row, to level at 8–8, coming from 8–4 behind against Judd Trump. The two took the match to a decider at nine a piece, before Trump took the final frame. Out of eight former world champions playing in the tournament main stage, three made it through to the second round. The three former champions to progress were Ronnie O'Sullivan (five-time champion), John Higgins (four-time champion) and Mark Williams (two-time champion), all professionals since 1992. Second round The second round of the tournament saw matches being played as best of 25 frames (13 frames needed to win), played over three sessions. Current Masters champion, Mark Allen and Joe Perry, who defeated the defending world champion in the first round, shared the spoils through the first two sessions of their second round match. In the third session, however, Allen won all five frames to go through to the quarter-finals with a 13–8 win. Barry Hawkins entered the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year after beating Lyu Haotian 13–10. Hawkins and Lyu were level at 10 frames all before Hawkins won the final three frames of the match. In a rematch of both the 2008 and 2012 World Snooker final, Ali Carter played Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round. Having only defeated O'Sullivan on one occasion from seventeen attempts (in the group stage at the non-ranking 2010 Championship League), Carter won 13–9 to advance to the quarter-finals. The match saw Carter and O'Sullivan come into contact and exchange words after the 19th frame. Kyren Wilson entered the quarter-finals by defeating Jamie Jones 13–5, winning the last six frames of the match. In the penultimate frame of the match, during a clearance, Wilson played a screw shot, jumping the cueball off the table. During the shot, he damaged the head of his cue tip. John Higgins defeated Jack Lisowski 13–1 with a session to spare, with Lisowski scoring his only frame at 10–0 behind. Two frames later, Higgins scored a personal Crucible high break of 146, the highest of the 2018 tournament to-date. The remaining three matches of the second round finished with Ding Junhui defeating Anthony McGill 13–4 after winning the first session of their match 8–0, scoring seven 50+ breaks. Judd Trump defeated Ricky Walden 13–9, with the score level at 8–8 after the first two sessions. Mark Williams defeated Robert Milkins, 13–7, thereby eliminating the last remaining qualifier in the competition. Quarterfinals The quarterfinals were also played as best of 25 frame matches over 3 sessions. The quarterfinalists were all top sixteen players, with Masters Champion Mark Allen as the lowest ranked player left in the competition. Three-time ranking event winner, Barry Hawkins, defeated 13-time ranking event winner, Ding Junhui, 13–5 and made it through to his fifth Crucible semi-final in six years. In a repeat of the 2018 Masters final, Kyren Wilson played Mark Allen in the quarterfinals. Masters runner-up, Wilson, won 13–6, after leading Allen 11–5 overnight. With this win Wilson made it through to his first ever Crucible semifinal, having lost in the quarterfinals in the two previous World Championships. Two time champion Mark Williams defeated Ali Carter, 13–8. Williams took leads of 5–3 and 9–7 after the initial two sessions, and won 4 of the last 5 frames with four breaks of 100 or more. In the final match of the quarterfinals, John Higgins played Judd Trump in a repeat of the 2011 final. Trump gained an early lead in the second session at 7–3, but Higgins won the next five frames, and the pair finished the session at 8–8. Trump won the next two frames, and take a two frame lead at 11–9, before Higgins won the next three frames, to take a lead at 11–12. Trump forced a final frame decider, before Higgins won the frame and defeated Trump in a match he described as a "classic", jokingly saying that Trump "must hate the sight of him". Semifinals The semifinals were played over four sessions, with matches played as best of 33 frames in a single table setup. John Higgins took an early lead in the opening session, leading Kyren Wilson 5–3, and retained this lead into the next two sessions, at 9–7, and 13–11. The pair shared the next four frames to leave the match at 15–13, before Higgins won the final two frames to win 17–13. The second semifinal saw Barry Hawkins take a similar lead over Mark Williams. Hawkins took 5–3, 9–7 and 13–11 leads before going into the final session. Williams made a comeback, drawing level at 14 frames a piece, and then again at 15 all. Williams took the lead for the first time in the match at 16–15 before winning it 17–15. His victory ensured that for the first time since the World Championship moved to the Crucible in 1977 both finalists would be over 40 years of age. Final The final was played as best of 35 frames over four sessions, between John Higgins and Mark Williams. The first session of the match saw Williams take an early lead, winning the first four frames. Higgins won the second mini-session 3–1, and so the first session ended with a 5–3 lead for Williams. In the second session Higgins levelled the score at 7–7, before Williams pulled away once again to take a 10–7 lead into the final day of the championship. Williams won the opening mini-session of the final day 4–0, extending his winning streak to seven frames in succession and his overnight lead to 14–7, before Higgins pulled two frames back after the mid-session interval. The second of those frames, Higgins won with a 72 counter-clearance after Williams had broken down on a break of 65. In the following frame Higgins was on a path to Crucible history as he was on his way to the first ever maximum break in a World Championship final. He broke down on ten reds and blacks, though, but the break of 80 secured his third successive frame win and reduced his deficit to 10–14. Williams won the final frame of the afternoon to win the session 5–3 and take a 15–10 lead into the final session of the championship. Higgins reeled off the first five frames of the final session of the championship to level the match at 15–15, including 3 consecutive counter clearances and a match highest break of 131. Williams then won his first frame of the evening and followed up with a 100 break to get to 17–15. In the 33th frame Williams missed a pink to clinch the title when on a break of 63; Higgins cleared up to pull to within one-frame, 16–17. In the 34th frame, however, Williams held his nerve to make a match winning contribution of 70 to clinch his third world title with the score, 18–16. Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: * Winner: £425,000 * Runner-up: £180,000 * Semifinal: £85,000 * Quarterfinal: £42,500 * Last 16: £27,500 * Last 32: £18,000 * Last 48: £13,500 * Last 80: £9,000 * Televised highest break: £10,000 * Non-televised highest break: £1,000 * Total: £1,968,000 The prize for a maximum break was boosted to £40,000 whereas, the prize for a 147 in qualifying was £10,000. Main draw The numbers in parentheses are players' seedings. Mark Selby (1)|4 | Joe Perry|'10' |22 & 23 April| Mark Allen (16)|'10' | Liam Highfield|5 |21 & 22 April| Kyren Wilson (9)|'10' | Matthew Stevens|3 |22 & 23 April| Shaun Murphy (8)|9 | Jamie Jones|'10' |25 April| John Higgins (5)|'10' | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh|7 |24 April| Stuart Bingham (12)|7 | Jack Lisowski|'10' |23 & 24 April| Luca Brecel (13)|6 | Ricky Walden|'10' |25 & 26 April| Judd Trump (4)|'10' | Chris Wakelin|9 |23 & 24 April| Ding Junhui (3)|'10' | Xiao Guodong|3 |25 & 26 April| Anthony McGill (14)|'10' | Ryan Day|8 |21 & 22 April| Marco Fu (11)|5 | Lyu Haotian|'10' |23 April| Barry Hawkins (6)|'10' | Stuart Carrington|7 |24 & 25 April| Mark Williams (7)|'10' | Jimmy Robertson|5 |24 & 25 April| Neil Robertson (10)|5 | Robert Milkins|'10' |21 & 22 April| Ali Carter (15)|'10' | Graeme Dott|8 |21 & 22 April| Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)}}|'10' | Stephen Maguire|7 |26 & 27 April| Joe Perry|8 | Mark Allen (16)|'13' |27 & 28 April| Kyren Wilson (9)|'13' | Jamie Jones|5 |28 & 29 April| John Higgins (5)|'13' | Jack Lisowski|1 |29 & 30 April| Ricky Walden|9 | Judd Trump (4)|'13' |29 & 30 April| Ding Junhui (3)|'13' | Anthony McGill (14)|4 |26, 27 & 28 April| Lyu Haotian|10 | Barry Hawkins (6)|'13' |28, 29 & 30 April| Mark Williams (7)|'13' | Robert Milkins|7 |27 & 28 April| Ali Carter (15)|'13' | Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)}}|9 |1 & 2 May| Mark Allen (16)|6 | Kyren Wilson (9)}}|'13' |1 & 2 May| John Higgins (5)|'13' | Judd Trump (4)|12 |1 & 2 May| Ding Junhui (3)|5 | Barry Hawkins (6)|'13' |1 & 2 May| Mark Williams (7)|'13' | Ali Carter (15)|8 |3, 4 & 5 May| Kyren Wilson (9)|13 | John Higgins (5)|'17' |3, 4 & 5 May| Barry Hawkins (6)|15 | Mark Williams (7)|'17' |(Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 6 & 7 May. Referee: Brendan Moore. |John Higgins (5) |16–'18' |'Mark Williams (7)' |23–75, 15–65, 35–72, 60–70 (55), 120–4 (119), 0–133 (95), 98–0 (52), 82–21 (59) |Session 1 3–'5' |23–'75', 15–'65', 35–'72', 60–'70' (55), 120–4 (119), 0–'133' (95), 98–0 (52), 82–21 (59) |46–81 (72), 82–21 (59), 127–8 (127), 12–76, 85–9 (56), 123–15 (117), 0–123 (118), 35–64 (64), 43–80 |Session 2 4–'5' (7–'10') |46–'81' (72), 82–21 (59), 127–8 (127), 12–'76', 85–9 (56), 123–15 (117), 0–'123' (118), 35–'64' (64), 43–'80' |5–98 (61), 19–73 (56), 0–126 (69, 56), 7–63 (52), 92–29 (67), 76–65 (72, 65), 80–0 (80), 8–84 |Session 3 3–'5' (10–'15') |5–'98' (61), 19–'73' (56), 0–'126' (69, 56), 7–'63' (52), 92–29 (67), 76–65 (72, 65), 80–0 (80), 8–'84' |'131'–1 (131), 68–58 (67, 58), 82–47 (82), 91–0 (52), 67–47 (62), 0–74, 15–104 (100), 65–63 (65, 63), 0–71 (69) |Session 4 6'–3 (16–'18) |131–1 (131), 68–58 (67, 58), 82–47 (82), 91–0 (52), 67–47 (62), 0–'74', 15–'104' (100), 65–63 (65, 63), 0–'71' (69) | |'131' |Highest break |118 |'4' |Century breaks |2 |'17' |50+ breaks |14 | Mark Williams wins the 2018 Betfred World Snooker Championship |Best of 19 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 33 frames }} Qualifying 128 players competed in the qualifying competition. There were three qualifying rounds, with the sixteen winners of the third round matches progressing to the main stages of the tournament at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Qualifying took place between 11–18 April 2018 at the English Institute of Sport, also in Sheffield, in a 12-table set-up. All matches were best of 19 frames. The total 113 tour players (ranked outside the top-16, including Invitational Tour Card holders Ken Doherty and Jimmy White) were joined by 15 amateur players who had achieved success through the WPBSA qualifying criteria. Among the 131 World Snooker Tour players, only Boonyarit Keattikun and Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn (both from Thailand) were not participating in qualifying rounds. The following 15 amateur players were invited to compete in qualifying: * 2018 WSF Championship semi-finalists: Luo Honghao, Adam Stefanów, Kristján Helgason, Kacper Filipiak * 2018 WSF Seniors Championship winner: Igor Figueiredo * 2018 WLBS World Women's Championship winner: Ng On Yee * 2018 EBSA European Championship finalists: Harvey Chandler, Jordan Brown * 2018 EBSA European Under-21 Championship runner-up: Tyler Rees * 2018 EBSA European Under-18 Championship winner: Jackson Page * EBSA Order of Merit 2017/18: Jamie Cope * 2018 World Seniors Championship winner: Aaron Canavan * WLBS World Ranking No.2: Reanne Evans * 2018 OBSF Oceania Championship winner: Adrian Ridley * WPBSA Development invitations: Ryan Thomerson, Marvin Lim Players ranked 17–80 in the world rankings were seeded in qualifying. The rest of the tour players plus the invited amateurs were drawn randomly. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Winners advanced to the main draw. Century breaks Main stage centuries 84 century breaks were made by 21 players during the main stage of the World Championship. John Higgins * 145, 141 Ryan Day * 141 Chris Wakelin * 140, 135, 118, 114, 113, 113, 110, 103, 102, 101, 100, 100 Mark Williams * 140, 126, 125, 124, 121, 106, 105 Kyren Wilson * 137, 102, 101 Shaun Murphy * 133, 132, 129, 129, 128, 124, 117, 113, 103 Barry Hawkins * 133, 122 Mark Allen * 128, 105 Jack Lisowski * 127, 125, 122, 100 Lyu Haotian * 126, 124, 113, 102, 102 Ding Junhui * 126, 115, 108, 106 Ali Carter * 124, 114 Jamie Jones * 123 Stuart Bingham * 122, 105 Ricky Walden * 121, 118, 110, 105 Ronnie O'Sullivan * 121, 112 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh * 120, 109, 103 Joe Perry * 120, 102 Marco Fu * 103, 103, 101, 100, 100 Judd Trump * 101 Stephen Maguire |}} Qualifying stage centuries 111 century breaks – including a maximum break – were made by 53 players during the qualifying stage of the World Championship. Liang Wenbo * 141, 119 Jamie Cope * 141, 100, 100 Stuart Carrington * 137, 105 Xiao Guodong * 136, 130, 116, 100 Yan Bingtao * 136, 120, 109 Mark Davis * 136, 117, 113, 109 Lyu Haotian * 136 Michael Holt * 135, 133, 125, 103, Ricky Walden}} * 135 Peter Ebdon * 134, 122, 103 Noppon Saengkham * 133, 102 Ken Doherty * 132, 121, 117, 111, 111, 102 Zhang Anda * 131, 107, 107, 100 Andrew Higginson * 131, 100 David Gilbert * 130 Dominic Dale * 130 Stephen Maguire * 127, 126, 102 Tian Pengfei * 127, 114, 111, 102 Liam Highfield * 127 Christopher Keogan * 126 Zhou Yuelong * 125, 108 Joe Perry * 125, 104 Chris Wakelin * 122, 114, 111, 104, 100 Jack Lisowski * 120 Robert Milkins * 119 Adam Duffy * 118, 109 Alan McManus * 118 Rory McLeod * 118 Hossein Vafaei * 118 Zhao Xintong * 117 Sunny Akani * 114, 101 Jamie Jones * 114 Zhang Yong * 113 Elliot Slessor * 109, 105 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh * 109, 101 Li Hang * 109 Mark Joyce * 108, 104 Gary Wilson * 107, 100, 100 Ryan Day * 106 John Astley * 105, 104, 100 Gerard Greene * 105, 102 Mark King * 105 David Grace * 104, 101, 100 Jimmy Robertson * 104 Sam Craigie * 104 Fergal O'Brien * 104 Daniel Wells * 103, 100 Matthew Stevens * 102 Leo Fernandez * 101 Cao Yupeng * 101 Chen Zhe * 100 Graeme Dott * 100 Mike Dunn |}} Representation by country The table shows the number of players by country in the 2018 World Snooker Championship. Bold: tournament winner. Controversy and legacy Following his first-round loss to Jack Lisowski, 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham stated he was to take a leave of absence from the game. Bingham said he would "spend some time with the family and put my cue down for a while." Bingham had spent three months of the season serving a ban for betting infringements; he commented, "It's not been the best of seasons in general, but on the table I've been pretty good." Following the second round match between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter, O'Sullivan referred to Carter as "Mr Angry". The pair had brushed shoulders, in an incident the ''Independent described as a "barge". Following the match, O'Sullivan described it as being "overplayed" by the media. The tournament's first-round draw was criticized by players and spectators, after it was delayed by two hours, due to "technical issues". World number 22 Joe Perry called the draw "an absolute joke", citing that the delay caused qualifiers to "have no idea when they are playing, have to book hotels and make travel plans." 2018 World Championship